Hi Guys.just wondering if anyone has had any experience with this fish. i’ve recently seen some in a shop but i’m a bit reluctant to get them as i know very little about them, water requirements, sexing etc. any help would be appreciated. cheers

From what I know Keith they have got to be one of the most peaceful of rifts and quite placid, once a pair forms they pair up for life and given the right conditions are fairly easy to spawn, ideal pH above 8 upto 9.

Sexing is difficult as the males develop slightly longer more elongated finnage.

V. (L.) moorii are found in the southern part of Lake Tanganyika. There are several colour forms – of which the black form is the one most coverted by fishkeepers.

Endorse what MD has to tell us but, as you will read, don’t keep moorii in ‘small fish company’?

This fish has strange eating habits? They need more vegetable matter in their diet than any other member of the genus. For this reason fishkeepers in the U.S.A. feed them along the same lines as t/m Tangs, thus ensure plenty of lettuce is fed. Despite this vegetarian need moorii have a bad reputation for swallowing any fish small enough to fit into their mouths.

Very nice fish and not very aggressive. I’ve kept them on four occasions and have bred them a few times. I have 7.4 water and it’s liquid rock, they did great. Weekly 50% water changes. I fed them a lot of different foods. Various dianichi pellets, spectrum, and a spiralina flake. I don’t keep many geographically related tanks, so if it has the same aggression level and same water and food requirements it can go with anything (in my opinion). I’ve kept them with mild mbuna and vics in the past.

Are you looking to breed them? I found they do best with another fish that breeds like a rat. I heard from my friend Chuck Rambo that they ditch their fry in the wild with L. mustax (this is why they have yellow fry). This possibly would make sense to them spawning when other fish spawn as they cue in on hormones to time when to ditch the fry with the mustax. Just a thought. Otherwise they are easy to breed. Just have some caves or bells in the tank.